Plain and simple, today was not a good day for a fair amount of pitchers First we had Jose Berrios who couldn’t escape the first inning vs the Tigers due to his horrendous control and hit the showers with a line of 0.2 IP, 7 ER, 3 Hits, 4 BBs, 1 Ks. There will be a time you will want Berrios on your squad, but he gets the Jays next and it may be a little before he’s good to go. Then we had J.A. Happ who fell apart in Tropicana, going 2.0 IP, 8 ER, 7 Hits, 1 BBs, 2 Ks, raising his ERA to 3.40 for the year. Last up was our Call Boy, who may be the worst one we’ve gone with all year – John Lamb was just plain bad, going 4.0 IP, 7 ER, 10 Hits, 2 BBs, 1 Ks against the Tribe. Hooo boy that’s disappointing. What are you supposed to do with these guys? Drop Berrios, possibly hold Happ, drop Lamb. I think all of them will be very rosterable in the weeks ahead, just give them time to gather themselves to avoid the next punch.
Let’s see what every other SP did yesterday:
Sean Manaea – 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 1 BBs, 3 Ks. On the topic of young pitchers getting beat up, Manaea finally gets to be on the other side of it, holding one of the better lines of the evening. Too bad he only gave you three Ks and I don’t think we’re going to see the guy we want for a while.
Robbie Ray – 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 Hits, 1 BBs, 6 Ks. It’s hard for me not to like a guy who holds a near 25% K rate, but when his walk rate is north of 10% and he’s super inconsistent, it gets under your skin a bit.
Derek Holland – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 Hits, 1 BBs, 1 Ks. It’s like he’s trying to right the ship for all the damage he’s done. IT’S NOT GOING TO WORK HOLLAND.
Jon Niese – 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 6 Ks. This is one of the better starts you’ll see from Niese. If you started him, be glad. Like super glad.
Drew Smyly – 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 Hits, 4 BBs, 6 Ks. I’ll take this from Smyly against the Jays. Sure you don’t like the 8 baserunners, but that ERA, dub, and a handful of Ks will serve you well.
Adam Conley – 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. Nice going Conley, way to take care of the Phils. I left Conley in the 50s today and I don’t see him moving all too much. He doesn’t have the grand upside to push the 30s, but he has good enough stuff to take advantage of poor teams and not crumble against good ones to keep himself comfortable inside the Top 70.
Jerad Eickhoff – 6.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 4 Ks. Bleegggghhh, Eickhoff took a tumble in today’s edition of The List and he’s not doing much of anything to get back into my good graces. Is that what you call your pants? …No. I do not call my pants my “good graces”. K. Just checking.
Matt Shoemaker – 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 6 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. You sucked the sole out of me last year and I won’t stand for it anymore.
Kenta Maeda – 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 Hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks. Maeda has now allowed 4 ER in three of his last four starts after allowing just 1 ER in his first four starts. This is why he was a sell high guy, though I still like him if that makes any sense.
Jordan Zimmermann – 7.0 IP, 7 ER, 11 Hits, 0 BBs, 9 Ks. Speaking of sell high, JZ had been noticing his xFIP is way higher than his ERA, so he elected to raise his 1.50 ERA a near full point to 2.45 today. What a champ.
Williams Perez – 6.0 IP, 6 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. Sir Dub, the knight in shining garbage.
Chad Green – 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 8 Hits, 1 BBs, 5 Ks. The Yankees needed someone to replace Luis Severino in the rotation, and Green got the call. But that doesn’t matter since he’s just a Cup of Schmo.
Cody Anderson – 4.1 IP, 6 ER, 9 Hits, 2 BBs, 2 Ks. This is why spring training articles are pretty silly. Anderson was being compared to Matt Harvey, and now he’s allowed at least 4 ER in all but two starts this year. Well, maybe he should be compared to Harvey… :(
Today’s Streamers
Juan Nicasio vs. Atlanta Braves – He’s owned in under 30% of ESPN leagues and gets one of his best matchups of the year. Go for it.
Tomorrow’s Streamer
Josh Tomlin Vs. Cincinnati – I can see people considering Nick Tropeano against the Dodgers, but it’s hard not to enjoy a good pitcher (Tomlin) going against a not-so-good team (Cincy).
Day After Tomorrow’s Streamer
Jon Gray vs. St. Louis Cardinals – I can’t believe I’m actually endorsing a Colorado pitcher, but Gray has been excellent outside of Coors – and even once inside Coors – and he’s the best you’ve got, even if the Cards are hitting well.
Game of the Day
Noah Syndergaard vs. Max Scherzer – In case you needed more of a reason to realize how awesome this start is, Scherzer is coming off a 20 K game.